Will Wallace
Actor and filmmaker Will Wallace believes Hollywood has a choice when it tells stories about America’s deepest wounds: Reopen them – or help heal them.
Wallace, who portrays former Attorney General Ed Meese in the upcoming Sept. 25 re-release of the hit film “Reagan” – a “director’s cut” featuring 10 minutes of new footage – says filmmakers have a responsibility to bring audiences together rather than deepen cultural divisions.
“I feel like if we come back to putting God in the center of our lives, we develop compassion and understanding,” Wallace said during an interview on producer Mark Joseph’s new podcast, “The Mark Joseph Show,” which is currently conducting a series of interviews with actors, artists and crew members involved in “Reagan” and called “The Making Reagan Series.” “If we can listen to one another and understand that people have their beliefs and their sentiments for a reason, then I hope we can move back into being proud patriots.”
The veteran actor and director, whose career has included collaborations with acclaimed filmmaker Terrence Malick, said his perspective was shaped in part by an exchange he once had with Spike Lee after a private screening of Lee’s Oscar-winning film “BlacKkKlansman.”
Wallace said he had recently watched “Green Book” and was struck by the different approaches the two films took toward racial reconciliation.
“I was so moved by ‘Green Book,'” Wallace recalled. “I just wondered, in this fight against racism, whether some of the films we make could actually be instilling hatred instead of helping people move forward.”
According to Wallace, Lee defended his own filmmaking approach, arguing there are different ways to tell stories about injustice. While Wallace said he respected Lee’s perspective, he ultimately came away believing another path was more effective.
Dennis Quaid in “Reagan” (Video screenshot)
“I’m not necessarily convinced,” Wallace said. “I actually believe that the Martin Luther King way – preaching love, forgiveness, compassion and moving forward – is the better way.”
Wallace said he worries that continually emphasizing anger and historical grievances without offering hope can unintentionally deepen divisions.
“I feel like if we learn to see the good within each other, we can move forward,” he said. “When we’re constantly rehashing the past … I feel like it promotes this dividing, this hatred within communities that we’re experiencing right now.”
The conversation naturally turned to Martin Luther King Jr., whom both Wallace and podcast host Mark Joseph praised for combining moral conviction with a message of reconciliation.
Wallace described King as “a man of faith” whose commitment to forgiveness remains deeply relevant today.
“I think we experienced a massive loss,” Wallace said of King’s assassination. “I admire him a great deal.”
Joseph noted King’s famous description of the Declaration of Independence as a “promissory note” guaranteeing equality for every American – a vision Wallace said still offers guidance during today’s polarized political climate.
Although Wallace portrays one of the 40th president’s closest advisers in “Reagan,” he said one of the film’s lasting messages extends beyond politics.
“The patriotic attitude,” Wallace said when asked what audiences should take away. “There’s so much conflict and hatred in our country.”
His hope, he added, is that Americans rediscover both compassion for one another and pride in their country. “I’m a proud patriot,” Wallace said.
For Wallace, those two ideas are inseparable.
“If we remember that all men are created equal,” he said, “I think we can remember to love each other.”
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[ H/T WorldNetDaily ]
